The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the High Representative of the European Union, have issued a joint statement condemning the Taliban’s recent ban on Afghan women working for national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The ministers expressed grave concern that this reckless and dangerous decision puts at risk millions of Afghans who depend on humanitarian assistance for their survival.
“Women are absolutely central to humanitarian and basic needs operations,” the statement read. “Unless they participate in aid delivery in Afghanistan, NGOs will be unable to reach the country’s most vulnerable people to provide food, medicine, winterization, and other materials and services they need to live. This would also affect the humanitarian assistance provided by international organizations, as international organizations utilize NGOs to deliver such materials and services.”
The ministers called on the Taliban to immediately reverse this decision, stating that it demonstrates the group’s “contempt for the rights, freedoms, and welfare of the Afghan people, particularly women and girls, and their disinterest in normal relations with the international community.” They also expressed support for the Afghan people’s calls for women and girls to return to work, school, and university, and for women to continue to play essential roles in humanitarian and basic needs assistance delivery.
The statement concluded: “We urge the Taliban to respect the political, economic, social, and cultural rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. To this end, we are in close contact with the United Nations, who are urging, also on behalf of all international donors, that the Taliban reverse this decision immediately. This would avoid any disruption and allow the continuation of all humanitarian operations of international and national NGOs.”